Thursday,
May 17, 2007
Surfing in Italy???? Spropoli
is Goofyfooters Dream - 400 yard Ride
The ANNOTICO
Report
Who would have
thought, a Surfing Paradise in Italy?
But, the wave at Spropoli is
mainland Italy's
longest wave and a goofyfooters dream. On a good day,
guys take off from the peak off the point, and ride all
the way to the beach, which is 400 yards inside the bay. (That's
four football fields!!!)
Spropoli is a frazioni
(village/hamlet) in Palizzi, a comune
(municipality) with a population of 2559, in the Province
of Reggio Calabria
in the Italian Region of Calabria. Palizzi, has
a total population of 2559, that
includes Spropoli (276), Palizzi Superiore (301), Palizzi Marina
(1,906), Contrada Gruda
(112), and Pietrapennata (112). I don't envision
any traffic jams !!! :)
I do wonder about
the "culture clash" between the traditionalist villagers and the
"surfer dudes":) But if the Dudes keep to
their Club Med "compound", probably none.
[Correction to
their Headline: Calabria is the
"Toe" of Italy and
Spropoli is at the extreme flat end of the toe, about
20 miles south east of Reggio Di
Calabria, across the Straits of Messina from Messina Sicily.
South East Italy would be Puglia.]
Remote Outpost in Southeast
Italy sees Weeks of Pumping Surf
[The wave at Spropoli is
mainland Italy's
longest wave and a goofyfooters dream. On a good day,
guys take off from the peak off the point and ride all
the way to the beach, which is 400 yards inside the bay.
To most people, Italy is just fine wine, old
buildings and pasta. But beneath these stereotypes lies an
ocean, er, well, a sea that produces ridable surf for a dedicated crew of locals. Here's 's account of what really goes on in the Med.
This April, a series of
consecutive southeast swells hit Italy's
southernmost coast, lighting up the reefs and pointbreaks
of this remote area and providing weeks of surf to the small group of locals
and a crew of visiting surfers from Rome.
Surfed only by a handful of people who kept it quiet for over fifteen years,
this stretch of coast has been known as fickle but also as home to some of the
best and longest waves in the Mediterranean when it turns on.
Don't be fooled though, this ain't no Venice, Florence
or Rome: the ultimate Club Med lies at the edge of the Italian countryside, ten
hour drive south of the Eternal City and a whole world away from all the
glamour. You've got to see to believe.
Here's Surfline
forecaster Mike Watson's breaks down on how Italy gets it's surf:
Spots in the Mediterranean Sea, just like all other surf spots around the
world, need winds blowing over the ocean for a given amount of time to create
swell and ultimately surf. This basin though is quite unique - the relatively warm
sea sits between two contrasting climates (Europe and Africa)
and also has complex orographic features, both of
which are extremely important from a meteorological standpoint. This
combination results in a pretty active basin.
The Mediterranean Sea benefits from low
pressure systems in the winter months. What is unique in this basin is that
some of the wintertime low pressure systems can mimic tropical cyclones. These
systems have been termed "Mediterranean Hurricanes." Although not
much is really known about these systems, they most certainly can provide the
basin with solid surf. It seems that these storms are most active in th e winter months but can form in
the fall and/or spring. Whatever the structure of these storms, their winds at
the surface and resultant swell are all that are needed to create fun surf for
Mediterranean surfers.
http://www.surfline.com/travel/travel_bamp.cfm?id=9129
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